Here's a game in which my chess thinking had to shift frequently. The opening went as follows.
1990 World Open, Round 7
White: David H. Levin (FIDE 2295)
Black: Michael J. Valvo (FIDE 2385)
With Black's e6-square firmly controlled even after the f7-pawn moves, White's knight at g5 seems misplaced. So, I retrenched by 14. Nf3.
I'm not sure that the possibility of 14. f4 even occurred to me, being that this advance is seldom indicated for White against the King's Indian. On 14. f4, one possibility is 14...Bh6, threatening to win a pawn by 15...exf4 16. gxf4 Nxf4 17. Bxf4 Bxg5.
The play starting with 14. f4 Bh6 might have unfolded as in the next chess movie.
This PGN could not be parsed.
- move 2 could not be played: Invalid PGN : Error converting move Bh6
[fen "r2q1rk1/ppn2pbp/3p2p1/2pPp1Nn/2P1P3/2N3P1/PP1BQP1P/R4RK1 w - - - -"] 14. f4 Bh6 15. Qg4 f5 16. exf5 Rxf5 17. Nce4 {Intending 17...Qd7 18. Qh4 (Fleeing from the potential discovery ...Rxf1+.) Bxg5 19. Nxg5 (Threatening a fork by 20. g4.) Rff8 20. fxe5 dxe5 21. Ne4, when Black would suffer weaknesses at c5, f6, and h6.} Nf6 18. Nxf6+ Qxf6 19. Ne4 Qe7 20. fxe5 Rxf1+ 21. Rxf1 Bxd2 22. exd6 Be3+ 23. Kg2 Qe5 24. dxc7 Qxc7 25. Qe6+ Kg7 26. d6 {Black can no longer prevent Rf7+.}
Returning to the position that would have been reached by 14. f4,
Black should instead look to obtain counterplay via the ...b5 break, as shown in the next chess movie.
This PGN could not be parsed.
- move 2 could not be played: Invalid PGN : Error converting move exf4
[fen "r2q1rk1/ppn2pbp/3p2p1/2pPp1Nn/2P1P3/2N3P1/PP1BQP1P/R4RK1 w - - - -"] 14. f4 exf4 {Opening the a1/h8 diagonal for the bishop, which White was threatening to keep closed by playing f5...} 15. gxf4 Qd7 16. f5 h6 {Before Black's f8-rook can abandon protection of the f7-square, White's g5-knight has to be dislodged, so that White couldn't trade pawns at g6 and play Rf7.} 17. Nf3 b5 18. cxb5 Rfb8 19. a4 a6 20. bxa6 Rxb2 {Threatening 21...Bxc3 or 21...Nxa6.} 21. Qd3 Nxa6 {Black is extremely active here.}
After the game's 14. Nf3, 14...f5 might have led to the following continuation.
This PGN could not be parsed.
- move 3 could not be played: Invalid PGN : Error converting move exf5
[fen "r2q1rk1/ppn2pbp/3p2p1/2pPp1Nn/2P1P3/2N3P1/PP1BQP1P/R4RK1 w - - - -"] 14. Nf3 f5 15. exf5 gxf5 16. Nxe5 Nxg3 17. fxg3 {If now 17...Bxe5, then 18. Rf3 Qd7 19. Raf1 Rf7 20. Qd3 Raf8 21. Bh6 Bg7 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Nd1 followed by Ne3, and the f-pawn's future is dim.} dxe5 {Here 18. g4 seems premature: 18. g4 f4 19. Ne4 b6 20. Bc3 Ne8 21. g5 Nd6 22. Nf6+ Bxf6 23. gxf6 Qxf6 24. Bxe5 f3!.} 18. Qh5 Qd7 19. Bh6 {The exchange of bishops will weaken Black's e-pawn.} Bxh6 20. Qxh6 Rf7 21. Rae1 Re8 22. Qg5+ Kh8 23. Qh5 Kg7 24. Rf2 Kg8 25. Ref1 Ref8 26. g4 fxg4 27. Qg5+ Kh8 28. Qxe5+ Kg8 29. Qg5+ Kh8 30. Rxf7 Rxf7 31. Rxf7 Qxf7 32. Qxg4 {Finally emerging with an extra pawn.}
The game actually continued as depicted below.
This PGN could not be parsed.
- move 2 could not be played: Invalid PGN : Error converting move Qd7
[fen "r2q1rk1/ppn2pbp/3p2p1/2pPp1Nn/2P1P3/2N3P1/PP1BQP1P/R4RK1 w - - - -"] 14. Nf3 Qd7 15. Ne1 {Readying to enter the queenside via d3 or c2.} b5 16. cxb5 Rab8
In the position reached after 16...Rab8,
I had to decide whether to play 17. a4. The point wouldn't be to hold the b5-pawn (which could be further attacked by ...a6, intending bxa6 Rxb2 followed by later winning the a6-pawn) but to bring about the opening of the a-file. If White played a4, Black played ...a6, and there were exchanges at b5, the following pawn structure would result:
The open a-file would help mobilize White's rooks so as to pressure Black's d-pawn along the sixth rank. White's b-pawn would be on a half-open file, but it could be easily held by playing Bc3... after knights are exchanged at b5.
Consequently, I played 17. a4, and the game continued as shown below.
This PGN could not be parsed.
- move 3 could not be played: Invalid PGN : Error converting move Nc2
[fen "1r3rk1/p1nq1pbp/3p2p1/1PpPp2n/4P3/2N3P1/PP1BQP1P/R3NRK1 w - - - -"] 17. a4 a6 18. Nc2 {Maneuvering toward the c4-square, where the knight would blockade the c-pawn and would hit d6.} axb5 19. axb5 Nxb5 20. Nxb5 Rxb5 {Because Black's envisioned counterattack ...f5 would be far more dangerous with queens still on the board, Black refrains from offering a queen exchange (by 20...Qxb5).} 21. Bc3 f5 22. f3 Nf6 23. Na3 Rbb8 24. Nc4 Rf7 25. Ra6 Bf8 26. Rc6 {White's apparent "abandonment" of the a-file is illusory because 26...Ra8 would lose to 27. Nb6.} Re8 {By protecting the e-pawn, this move prevents Bxe5 dxe5 Nxe5 followed by Nxf7. But Black soon deems this "threat" less concerning than the attack against Black's d-pawn.} 27. Ra1 Rd8 28. Raa6 fxe4 29. fxe4 Qh3
Black's last, 29...Qh3, threatens 30...Ng4 followed by 31...Rf1+ and 32...Qxh2 mate. If 30. Nxd6, then Rxd6! 31. Rxd6 Nxe4, and because Black has retained the bishop, 32. Rd8 would not be check. I had about three minutes in which to make my 30th move, and I played...
30. Nxe5!
Intending 30...dxe5 31. Rxf6 or 30...Nxe4 31. Nxf7 Nxc3 32. bxc3 Rb8 33. Rcb6.
30...Rb7
30...Re7 would permit 31. Rxd6.
31. Nd3
Intending to reach e6 via f4, but I overlooked Black's reply. Nonetheless, the text seems clearer than 31. Nf3 Ng4 32. Ng5 Qh5 33. Ne6 Rf7 34. Nf4 Rxf4 (on 34...Qg5, 35. h4 wins a piece) 35. gxf4 Re8 (Threatening 36...Rxe4, as 37. Qxe4 would permit mate by 37...Qxh2+ and 38...Qf2.) 36. e5 dxe5 37. fxe5 Bh6.
31...Nh5 32. Nf2
I'd had enough of Black's queen's being at h3.
32...Nxg3?!
Hoping to at least expose White's king after 33. hxg3 Qxg3+.
33. Qd3
The queen covers e2 and f1 and renews the attack on Black's knight. So,
Black resigns
(A list of the threads I've initiated at this forum is available at http://www.davidlevinchess.com/chess/RHP_my_threads.htm .)
I met Valvo once. I believe it was either a Boulder Open or Colorado Open. After a round two players were analysing their game and politely asked Valvo for input. He said he charges money for analysis and was too busy to do so. That was his best encounter of the weekend lol
I think there was talk of the CSCA(Colorado State Chess Association) permanently banning him.
@fmdavidhlevin saidThat's good to hear. Maybe he was just having a bad tournament. Seems to me Mikhail Muhlyar won it.
I often encountered Valvo at the Westfield (New Jersey) Chess Club or at tournaments. I didn't know him intimately, but we got along fine.